we'll be a dream
by tiltyoubackhoney
Summary: 7 years after Maya moved away from the city she is back. A wedding has united the gang once again and by now you should know nothing is ever boring for too long with these kids around... / Or: did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there? —lucas/maya centered with canon riley/farkle
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** **Hi! This is just a little story I decided to post and I just wanted to make a few things clear:**

 *** The kids are all in their mid-twenties in this story**

 *** I don't know how frequently this will be updated**

 *** I apologize for any spelling errors/sentences that make no sense: it is 2 AM.**

 *** I really appreciate feedback so feel free to comment!**

 *** I do not own GMW or any of the characters that occur in the show. Some of the characters in this story might be original but most of them belong to the writing team for GMW.**

 **That's it! I hope you enjoy the 1st chapter!**

* * *

 **I.**

Maya Hart was back in town. The Big Apple, the city that never sleeps... New York City had a lot of names. Maya personally preferred calling it home. At least she _had_ preferred calling it that before she had moved away. Before she had left everything and everyone she loved.

It was weird, Maya thought, being back here. The subway smelled the same, she still knew how to get a cab to notice her and the pace of the people on the streets was still the same fast, chaotic mess that she remembered. It was as if she had never left.

Except.

Except, she had. And everything was _not_ exactly the same.

There was a new sign outside the shop where Maya used to watch young couples and rich ladies with fancy suits buy jewellery and daydream about when she would be able to afford jewels and diamonds, herself. A trashcan was now right outside the bright yellow sushi place in Scarsdale. Riley and Maya used to take the twenty minute commute there just to eat their avocado rolls. They were amazing. But what had changed the most about New York didn't have that much to do with the city. It had a lot more to do with Maya and how she felt being back. She used to feel like she belonged here, with her model friends and performing buddies on the subway, the chef at her mothers old job always sneaking her the pancakes that had turned a little too black around the edges, at Topanga's with her family and her friends, the people she loved. She didn't have that anymore. She was 26 years old and nothing was the same as it had been when she had left 7 years ago. Her model friends and the guys singing and juggling at the subway were long gone, her mother's old diner had closed, apparently, and mr. and mrs. Matthews had changed the sign to Topanga's (Riley had sent her pictures) and left Katy in charge of the place. Riley, her best friend, was getting married to Farkle, her other best friend. No one had seen it coming. Farkle had been in an on-and-off again relationship with a girl named Wendy up until a year ago and Riley had been happily single for two years, choosing to focus on her career and herself, instead of her love life, when they had announced that they were together last summer. Apparently they had gotten drunk, slept together and then, in typical Riley and Farkle fashion, decided to talk about it and weigh the pros and cons of a relationship. In the end they had decided their friendship was not worthy of ruining for a maybe-relationship but by the end of the month they had realised they'd made a mistake and ended up getting together again. Two months later they moved in together and six months ago Riley had ruined Farkles proposal by proposing to him herself. Maya had spent five hours with Riley on the phone afterwards and had (unfortunately) gotten to hear every single detail of the Riarkle-romance. The two girl might not have been living in the same city anymore but the phone calls and facetimes made up for that. They still talked most days, still saw each others faces. They still discussed everything and nothing together. Well, almost anything, anyway.

The cab Maya was sitting in came to a halt and Maya stepped out of it to take her luggage out of the back. The driver seemed to be one of the nicer ones in the city because he came out and helped the blonde with her things. Either that or he wanted to speed up the process so that he could get out of there. She thanked him either way and payed the fair before lugging her luggage behind her and looking for the right number. She stopped when her phone started ringing and put her purse on the black luggage to answer it.

"Riley, I'm on my way, what is it?" she said into her phone and tried to pull her stuff with one hand. _32, 32, 32... Where are you 32?_ , she thought. She could hear people laughing in the background and her friend shushing them.

"Maya! Hurryyyyy, I need to see your beautiful face! I can't wait anymore!" Each sentence was punctuated with an exclamation mark but Maya was used to that. Could she really expect anything other than absolute excitement from her friend? She was kind of excited, too.

"Riles, you saw me like two months ago" she reminded her, rolling her eyes. Her luggage had started rolling a little bit faster, finally, and Maya was surprised at how easy it was to walk backwards, talk and look for the correct apartment building at the same time, whilst in heels.

"Yeah, for _a day_! Now I'm going to get to see you every day for an entire _month_! This is so exciting! Isn't this exciting?! I think it is" Riley rambled on. There was something in her voice, Maya noticed, and made a mental note to ask her if everything was okay once she got to her friends apartment.

"Yes, honey, it's exciting. Okay, where the hell is your building?! I've been walking for almost five minutes now!" Maya stopped for a second to rest. This was ridiculous. Maya prided herself on knowing most parts of New York by heart but now she couldn't even find an apartment in Greenwich Village. Things had definitely changed.

"Oh, I'll tell the boys to go lean out the window! You'll see them, they're the ones who will be waving like idiots, I'm sure" Riley said. Maya took a hold of her things again and looked up, trying to see if people would suddenly show up somewhere.

"HEY!" she heard Riley yell. The sound was muffled but Riley had quite the lungs.

"DOUCHEFACES, GO WAVE FROM THE WINDOW, MAYA CAN'T FIND OUR PLACE!"

Two seconds and a bunch of shuffling sounds later Riley was back.

"Okay, I fixed it. Do you see them?" she wondered. Maya looked around but alas, no boys were to be found.

"Riley, what do you mean when you said _boys_? That's plural" Maya wanted to see all of her friends now that she was back of course, some more than others, but there was one person she was trying to avoid and she did not want to see him like this.

"Oh! Um... Don't worry, it's just Farkle and Zay! They're trying to fix some last minute changes with the seating." Zay, Maya remembered, had somehow gotten pulled into the planning of their friends's wedding and had become somewhat of the unofficial wedding planner. Maya wasn't sure why it amused her that Zay of all people ended up planning Riley and Farkles wedding but it did.

"Oh, okay. Wait, I think I see something! Wait, is your apartment building gray or red?" She could see two pair of heads that looked eerily familiar sticking out of a window on the other side of the street. They seemed to be waving but she couldn't really tell, they were too far away.

"Red... why? Oh, are you outside the grey ones? Mum and dad had the same problem when they were trying to find our place the first time. It seems to only happen when yo-"

"Yeah, okay, Riles. I see them." she interrupted her and took a hold of her luggage to start dragging it again. She soon realised that taking her luggage to the other side of the street would not work if she had her phone glued to her ear.

"Riles? I'm going now, I'll see you in a few!" she said and bent her knees to prepare for the pull.

"Oh okay, YAAAAY! BYE!" she heard before she clicked the red button on her phone and put it back in her jacket pocket. She took a deep breath and pulled as hard as she could, praying nothing would break. At times like these she wished she had been taller. If she had been taller she could've just borrowed Riley's clothes for a month instead of having to bring half of her closet with her. If she had been taller she wouldn't have a problem with pulling on _this damn luggag-_

"Hey, you need some help with that?" a voice from behind her asked. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She would recognise that voice anywhere. This was _not_ how this was supposed to happen. She forced a smile on her face and slowly turned around to face a person she had not seen for 6 years.

"It's okay, I can take it, thanks" she said. There was a flash of surprise on his face when he realised that the stranger in front of him was actually Maya but he quickly masked that with a carefully neutral expression. It didn't matter though, Maya could still read him like a book.

"Maya!" he exclaimed. He seemed like he was at a loss of words and Maya herself could not think of one single thing to say. He looked the same, she guessed. His hair was still cut the same way, he was still tall and handsome and his eyes were as beautiful as they had always been. She had always loved his eyes the most. Once upon a time she associated those eyes with home. Not anymore though.

"You- you've cut your hair" he said, at last. He gestured vaguely towards her face and Maya put her hand up to her hair, out of habit. There was nothing there to twirl or toss anymore, she had cut it shoulder length two years ago when she had desperately needed a change.

"Um, yeah." she mumbled. He shifted his weight and she completely forgot about her hair. He was holding a few boxes of pizza in one hand and his phone and a wallet in the other. He looked like he belonged in New York. It was funny, she thought. Maya, who grew up in New York, a city child at heart, felt out of place here. But the cowboy, the outsider, he belonged, here in her city. He held the pizzas out to her and smiled.

"Um, here. You take the pizzas and I'll take your luggage. You're going to Riley and Farkle's right? Riley has been talking about it non-stop for the past two weeks" he said, taking the luggage out of her hands. Maya wanted to stop him but she wasn't really sure what was happening and, anyway, Lucas was already crossing the street. All she could do was follow his lead.

Riley confirmed Mayas suspicions approximately six and a half minutes after Maya and Lucas had shown up at her doorstep. Maya had been greeted with hugs (Farkle and Zay), kisses (Riley) and excited squeals of joy (once again, Riley) before she had even taken her jacket off. Lucas had been greeted with a "Finally, dude! What took you so long? I am _starving_ " and two pairs of hands who grabbed the pizzas before he had even answered. When the girls had calmed down and they'd all sat down to eat Maya had discreetly shot Riley a look and pointed her finger towards Lucas when she was sure he wasn't looking. Riley had then, not so discreetly, announced that Maya and her would be finishing their pizzas in the bedroom because they needed to discuss 'something important'. Maya almost threw her phone at her best friend after that. She loved Riley to death but the girl couldn't lie to save her life.

"I'm sorry" Riley had said as soon as she'd closed the door to hers and Farkle's bedroom. It was a nice bedroom, filled with pictures and souvenirs from their many trips and adventures over the years. Maya could see herself in some of them, she could see Zay and Lucas, too. But in the more recent ones Riley and Farkle had their arms around each other or they were staring lovingly at each other or, Maya realised to her horror, they were kissing. She might have been their best friend but she could've done without seeing those two geeks smashing teeth.

"I know you didn't want to see him like this" Riley continued, snapping Maya out of her thoughts.

"But, Maya, you were going to see him tomorrow, anyway. And we really needed some help with the seatings and I am going insane here. Isadora is superbusy with her latest project and I know she broke up with Farkle years ago but I still feel weird asking her to help with the wedding and I can't stand all of this testosterone anymore. I _really_ need you to be here." The girl was out of breath and close to tears by the end of the sentence and Maya's heart broke a little bit at that. It must've been hard to plan your wedding basically alone. She regretted not coming sooner to help.

"It's fine" she sighed, stepping closer to her friend to give her a hug. "It wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be" she said, hugging Riley close to her. Riley sniffled a little and giggled.

"Really?" she wondered hopefully. Maya scoffed.

"No, it was horrible. But it's okay, honey. I'm here now and I'm going to help you with all of this wedding stuff and we'll throw those idiots out of here and make you feel better, okay?" she said. Riley sniffled again, squeezing tighter.

"Okay" she said. "Thank you for being my best friend, peaches." Maya smiled.

"Of course"

* * *

 **So what did you guys think? Tell me everything!**

 **xx,**

 **Kat.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi! Thank you for reviewing and putting this story in your favorites! This chapter was supposed to be up two weeks ago but I've been having trouble with using so that is why it hasn't come up until now. I personally do not like this chapter at all but I couldn't think of anything else to write so I guess this will do. The chapter after this one is already better and I've only written three pages! So here's a New Years Eve treat for you guys. Enjoy!**

 **P.S I'm going to answer your comments as soon as I can, I've just been superbusy this month!**

 **xx,**

 **Kat.**

 **II**.

"So what do you think the girls are talking about?" Farkle wondered. Zay took a bite of his pizza and made a face.

"Us, duh" he answered. Farkle looked confused at that and hesitated before asking another question. He knew asking Zay anything was dangerous. There was a reason the guy was always in trouble. That reason was his mouth.

"Us?" he asked anyway, ignoring the warning signs going off inside his head. Lucas sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head. He had a feeling he knew where this was going and he didn't like it one bit.

"Yeah" Zay nodded. "Us. Or mostly, Lucas. But probably you and Riley, too." he continued, a sneaky smile on his face. He knew what Farkle was going to ask next, Lucas had guessed. And he had a smartass comeback for it.

"And you?"

Farkle had played right into Zays hands. Zays smirk grew as he leaned back on the couch and stretched. He had never looked more like the Cheshire cat than then, Lucas thought as he chewed on his cheezy bread.

"Well, you know that I'm their favourite. Don't you remember when they were all over me back in Texas?" he said and let out a laugh. Lucas shook his head and Farkle rolled his eyes so far back that Lucas worried they might get stuck there. But then Zay turned to him and Lucas suddenly wished Zay would turn back to their other friend and lay down smartass comment after smartass comment. So long as he was not staring at Lucas with that knowing gaze.

"So" Zay said and Lucas realised he was screwed. "You never told us how you and Maya ended up coming back here together" he said. Suddenly all the attention in the room was on Lucas and he had not felt that uncomfortable since his last girlfriend's mother had started hitting on him. In front of said girlfriend. He shifted slightly and regretted not taking a seat on the couch. Sitting on the floor was incredibly bad for his back. And his ass.

"We just met on the street just outside the apartment, s'no big deal" he muttered, staring at his pizza. Why did he feel like a little boy caught with his hands in the cookie jar? Farkle seemed satisfied with that answer but Zay was not letting this go.

"This the first time you've seen each other for what? 7 years?" he asked. Lucas nodded slowly, wondering where this was going.

"Yup" he said. He turned his head back towards the game show that was on on the television. If he just stared at the TV long enough maybe Zay would get the hint and drop the subject. After a few seconds of silence Lucas realised that a miracle must've occurred because Zay seemed like he was actually going to drop it. But then Lucas opened his mouth because, _apparently_ , he had no control over his body.

"She cut her hair" he muttered. It was low enough for his friends to not hear it but when he turned towards them they were both looking at him expectantly. He must've said it louder than he thought.

"What?" he wondered. Zay had a knowing look in his eyes and when he turned towards Farkle he realised his other friend was sharing that look.

"Do you still-" Farkle started but Lucas gave him a warning look, daring him to finish that sentence. "It's been 7 years" he said instead. Zay gave a snort.

"That's not an answer dude"

"This..." Riley sighed happily. "This is the life. Thank you, Maya. This is exactly what I needed" The brunette lifted a slice of cucumber from her eye so that she could see what her best friend was doing. Maya was currently perched up on the foot of the couch that Riley had spread out over and was trying not to let her facemask spill over Riley's wedding planner. Maya smiled at her friend before turning back to the enormous binder.

"You're welcome, honey. No more wedding talk for the rest of the night. No more boys either. I made sure they wouldn't be back until at least midnight. I also happen to have my ex roommate's Netflix account so we have all the rom-coms and horror movies we could possibly want and need." She closed the binder and carefully put it on the table in front of her.

"Now!" she said, holding up an abundance of shiny pieces of paper. "What shall we eat?"

Riley removed the cucumber slices from her face and put them on a coaster on the table.

"Hmmm" she said. "I could really go for some orange chicken! Or salmon skin rolls! No, wait, calzones!" Maya made a face at the last suggestion. Riley was the only person in the world, probably, that liked calzones.

"You know what?" she said at last. She threw the menus down and they hit the floor with a bang. "Let's order it all. If anyone deserves it it's us" Riley quirked an eyebrow.

"Us? What horrors have you been going through lately?" she wondered. Maya sighed dramatically and sat back down on the couch.

"Well, you know, first of all: my flight was delayed today. And then I couldn't find my own way in New York aka the city I was born and grew up in and _then_ I had a Lucas Friar sized incident and got betrayed by my best friends" she said, giving Riley a pointed look. She smiled to make sure Riley knew that she wasn't actually mad at her. The girl had enough anxiety as it was.

"About that" Riley started, "why did you guys come up here together? That was weird." She made a face and patted two fingers to her cheek to see if the mask had set yet. Maya exhaled loudly and made a vague gesture in the air with her hands.

"I don't know. I was just putting my phone back down after our conversation and was about to start pulling my luggage again when – _bam!_ \- he appears out of nowhere with a "do you need some help with that m'am?" and an 'oh! Wait! You are Maya! You have cut your hair! This is not awkward at all!' " Maya said in her (very bad) southern drawl. She shrugged and took a sip of her tea.

"It'll get better" Riley tried, patting her shoulder in sympathy. Maya shook her head and looked away.

"I don't know, honey. I don't think it will" She gave her friend a tired smile and half a hug and leaned back into the couch.

"It's okay though, Riley. Not everything needs fixing. It's just for a month, right?" she said. Riley smiled back and squeezed the blonde tighter to her.

"Only a month and I love you so much for doing this. It's much appreciated" Maya gave Riley a real smile this time and patted her friends cheek.

"Oh, the things I do for you. " she said, standing up to find the phone. She was getting hungrier by the minute. "By the way, your mask is done"

The boys had come back exactly fifteen minutes before the clock struck one. Boy _s_ , as in plural, because Farkle had not come back alone. Apparently, Zay had left the bar they went to with a girl clinging to him and Lucas had gotten a bit too drunk, courtesy of his friends bringing up shit from the past that he preferred never to have to think about. So Farkle, being the logical and caring friend that he was, decided to bring him back home and let him sleep it off. By the time the boys had gotten through the door the girls had finished their face masks, done their nails, eaten a shit ton of food and gotten through two movies and a lot of talking. She had missed the food in New York, too. L.A did have really nice sushi and the tacos were to die for but nothing could beat a New York pizza and some good ol' Chinese food. And, obviously, L.A didn't have Riley.

Maya hadn't realised just how Riley-starved she was until she had gotten to spend a night with her best friend doing the things they used to do when they were younger and still living in the same city. She needed to invite her over to come visit in L.A more often. After 7 years in the city of angels Maya had found solace in a group of friends she considered a family away from her New York-family but still, nothing could ever beat Riley. Which was probably for the best. After all, having one person being able to read your mind was more than enough.

When the girls heard the knock on the door they had already taken out pillows and blankets from the linen closet for Maya to put on her bed. Maya would be spending the next month in Riley and Farkle's spare bedroom, which had been left with the same bedding since last summer. Maya didn't mind much but Riley insisted they change the sheets, the pillowcase, the whole works. And so they were just carrying a blanket each to the room (in case it got too cold in June, obviously) when the knock was heard.

"Who is that?" Maya wondered. Riley shrugged, putting the blanket she was holding by the foot of the bed.

"Probably Farkle. When he gets drunk he thinks the door is going to fall on him if tries to open it with a key" she said. Maya raised an eyebrow but knew better than to question it. She put her blanket on top of Riley's and followed the brunette out of the room to open the door. And there they were, a reasonably sober Farkle and a not-so-sober Lucas draped over him. For half a second Maya was brought back to the good old days when this sight was a fairly regular occurrence. Riley sighed when she saw the state the texan boy was in.

"Sorry, I couldn't reach my key and hold him up at the same time" Farkle said, moving towards the living room with a staggering Lucas leaning on his shoulder.

"I am so tired" Lucas groaned.

"You?!" Farkle exclaimed. "I'm the one that had to carry you to the cab, from the cab, up three flights of stairs, and in here. Now lay down on the couch" he pointed toward the couch and shrugged his friend off of him.

"m'tired of life" Lucas muttered. Riley rolled her eyes and turned towards Maya.

"I see he's still a dramatic drunk" Maya said, gesturing towards the couch. Riley sighed and shook her head, turning towards their friend.

"Lucas, you can take the couch tonight. There are leftovers in the kitchen, you know where the aspirin is. _I_ am going to bed" she said and closed the door to their apartment, making sure it was properly locked.

"I'll join you as soon as I've showered. Goodnight Lucas, goodnight Maya" Farkle said, walking toward his and Riley's bedroom.

"Goodnight" they said in unison. Riley patted Maya's shoulder, threw a blanket from the armchair onto Lucas's body and followed Farkle.

"Thank you for tonight, peaches, I really needed it. Night guys, sleep tight!" she said before the door closed behind her. _Great_ , Maya thought, _now I have to think of an excuse to get out of here._ She opened her mouth to say something (what that something was she wasn't quite sure of) but before she could get anything out she could hear a faint snoring sound coming from the general direction of the sofa. _Thank God_ , she thought.

She was just about to sneak off to her own room when she hesitated. Should she lay the blanket properly around him? He had fallen asleep with it still being folded on his chest, that wasn't going to keep him warm. But was that allowed? Did you wrap someone in a blanket and tuck them in when you hadn't spoken for seven years? She wasn't sure. _I mean, I don't want the guy to freeze to death, right? It's something I would do for Riley, for Farkle, for Zay..._ a voice inside her said. She ignored the other voice in her head that was telling her that those were friends, _he_ _wasn't_ , and took a few steps toward him. She unfolded the blanket and let it carefully fall around him, covering the majority of his body. _There_ , she thought, _that wasn't so bad. Nothing to get worked up over_. His legs were dangling over the edge of the sofa and she noticed he was still wearing his shoes. Should she take them off? No, she shouldn't push it. What she'd done had been a huge enough thing already. He could damn well sleep with his shoes on.

He moved around on the couch, trying to get comfortable and suddenly Maya heard a small thud. She looked around to see if anything had fallen before surveying the floor. There, just in front of her lay a black leather wallet, just like the one Lucas had been carrying earlier that day. She bent down quickly to pick it up and froze. The wallet must have opened when it fell down because all of the sudden Maya was faced with a picture of herself, only ten years younger and completely in love with the boy standing next to her with his arms around her shoulders. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach and tried not to think about what that pain meant or what his picture meant or why he was still carrying it around with him. It was none of her business anyway. She rose slowly and put the wallet on the table next to the couch before quickly going back to her room. This was going to be a long month.


	3. IMPORTANT

Hi! It pains me to say this but I have come to the conclusion that this site does not work well at all with the way I write and want to publish my stories. If you compare the chapters on here with the exact same chapters on ao3, where I am also posting, you will see that the story becomes much better and the reading goes more fluently on there. Therefore I have decided to not update this story on this site anymore. If you want to continue reading this story I will continue updating in on ao3 (archiveofourown). You can find me on there by searching the name of the story (we'll be a dream) or my username, which is the same as on here (tiltyoubackhoney). If you for some reason do not wish to read it on there you can message me on my tumblr, which is also tiltyoubackhoney, and I will start posting the chapters to tumblr, too. Thank you to everyone who has favourited and reviewed this story, it really does mean a lot to me and maybe someday I will come back here and continue the story. I really want to stay on here but it just isn't working. Anyway, have a happy new year and I hope you are willing to continue down this path with me and stick to the story as it is only just beginning.

Thank you for everything.

xx,

Kat.


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